Systemic reset of a mote network

ABSTRACT

A method may include and/or involve a mote network receiving a signal to reset and applying the signal to reset to place the mote network into a reset condition.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to mote networks and mote network reset.

BACKGROUND

Mote networks may be prone to localized and systemic failures due tonon-robustness of the motes and/or the harshness of the environment intowhich they are deployed.

Noise, communication failures, sensor failures, malfunctions, and otherconditions may cause a mote network to have an unstable state.

SUMMARY

The following summary is intended to highlight and introduce someaspects of the disclosed embodiments, but not to limit the scope of theclaims. Thereafter, a detailed description of illustrated embodiments ispresented, which will permit one skilled in the relevant art to make anduse various embodiments.

A method may include and/or involve a mote network receiving a signal toreset and applying the signal to reset to place the mote network into areset condition. Receiving a signal to reset and applying the signal toreset to place the mote network into a reset condition may includeand/or involve returning one or more motes individually to or near to anidentified saved state, and/or returning one or more motes individuallyto or near to a state saved at a particular time, and/or returning themote network to or near to an identified saved state, and/or returningthe mote network to or near to a state saved at a particular time,and/or signaling the mote network with state information stored externalto the mote network, and/or signaling the mote network to apply stateinformation stored by the one or more motes of the mote network, and/orreturning at least one mote of the mote network to a manufactureddefault state, and/or performing a reset and restart of at least onemote of the mote network, and/or erasing stored data of at least onemote of the mote network, and/or at least one mote of the mote networkauthenticating a source of the signal, and/or signaling with light,and/or signaling with sound, and/or signaling a mote network with theresult that at least one mote removes itself from the mote network,and/or signaling a mote network with the result that at least one moteis assigned a status such that signals from the at least one mote areignored and/or treated as unsuitable, and/or retaining one or more firsttypes of state information on a mote-by-mote basis, and removing one ormore second types of state information on a mote-by-mote basis, and/orcausing all functional motes of the mote network to return to a samestate, and/or causing one or more motes to enter into an energy savingstate, and/or different sets of motes sequentially resetting to aprevious mote operational state, and/or resetting at least one of moteclock, mote sensor, mote knowledge of neighbors, or mote knowledge ofenvironmental factors, and/or a reset signal propagating through themote network, and/or signaling the mote network when data collected fromthe mote network indicates the presence of one or more environmentalfactors associated with a reset condition. Signaling the mote network toapply state information stored by the one or more motes of the motenetwork may include and/or involve signaling one or more motes to obtainreset state information from one or more other motes. At least one moteof the mote network authenticating a source of the signal may includeand/or involve at least one mote of the mote network extractingauthentication information from the signal and applying theauthentication information to authenticate the source of the signal.

The method may include and/or involve one or more motes of the motenetwork creating a network restore point as a result of receiving thesignal.

The method may include and/or involve the one or more motes of the motenetwork providing distributed storage for information of the networkrestore point.

The method may include and/or involve storing information of the networkrestore point external to the mote network.

The method may include and/or involve signaling the mote network withthe result that the network is reset to a previous operational state asa result of completion of a task by the mote network.

The method may include and/or involve signaling the mote network withthe result that the network is reset to a previous operational state asa result of damage to the mote network.

The method may include and/or involve signaling the mote network withthe result that the network is reset to a previous operational state asa result of at least one of addition, removal, failure, orreconfiguration of one or more motes of the mote network.

The method may include and/or involve at least one mote of the motenetwork communicating stored information before returning to a previousmote operational state.

The method may include and/or involve signaling the mote network withinformation about a common time at which to perform a reset.

The method may include and/or involve signaling the mote network with asynchronization signal prior to a reset signal.

The method may include and/or involve one or more motes of the networksignaling success or failure of applying the signal to reset.

A mote system utilizing at least one mote, where the mote may includeand/or involve logic to receive a signal to reset and to apply thesignal to reset to place the mote into a reset condition. The logic toreceive a signal to reset and to apply the signal to reset to place themote into a reset condition may include and/or involve logic to returnthe mote to or near to an identified saved state, and/or logic to returnthe mote to or near to a state saved at a particular time, and/or logicto return the mote to or near to an identified saved state, and/or logicto return the mote to or near to a state saved at a particular time,and/or logic to apply state information stored external to the motenetwork, and/or logic to apply state information stored by the one ormore other motes of the mote network, and/or logic to return the mote toa manufactured default state, and/or logic to reset and restart themote, and/or logic to erase data stored by the mote, and/or logic toauthenticate a source of the signal to reset, and/or logic to receive alight signal to reset, and/or logic to receive a sound signal to reset,and/or logic to enter into an energy saving state as a result ofreceiving the signal to reset, and/or logic to reset at least one ofmote clock, mote sensor, mote knowledge of neighbors, or mote knowledgeof environmental factors as a result of receiving the signal to reset.The logic to receive a signal to reset and to apply the signal to resetto place the mote into a reset condition may include and/or involvelogic to receive state information from one or more other motes. Thelogic to authenticate a source of the signal to reset may include and/orinvolve logic to extract authentication information from the signal andapply the authentication information to authenticate the source of thesignal to reset.

The mote may include and/or involve logic to store a restore point andto apply the restore point as a result of receiving the signal to reset.

The mote may include and/or involve logic to receive and apply networkrestore point information.

The mote may include and/or involve logic to communicate storedinformation before returning to a previous mote operational state as aresult of receiving the signal to reset.

The mote may include and/or involve logic to receive and applyinformation about a time at which to perform a reset.

The mote may include and/or involve logic to receive and apply asynchronization signal prior to receiving and applying the signal toreset.

The mote may include and/or involve logic to signal success or failureof applying the signal to reset.

A mote network may include and/or involve logic to receive a signal toreset and to apply the signal to reset to place the mote network into areset condition. The logic to receive a signal to reset and to apply thesignal to reset to place the mote network into a reset condition mayinclude and/or involve logic to cause one or more motes of the motenetwork to remove itself from the mote network, and/or logic to assignat least one mote a status such that signals from the at least one moteare ignored and/or treated as unsuitable, and/or logic to cause a firstset of motes to each have a first state, and to cause a second set ofmotes to each have a second state, and/or logic to cause all functionalmotes of the mote network to return to a same state, and/or logic toreset different sets of motes sequentially to a previous operationalstate, and/or logic to propagate the signal to reset through the motenetwork, and/or logic to signal the mote network to reset when datacollected from the mote network indicates the presence of one or moreenvironmental factors associated with a reset condition.

The mote network may include and/or involve logic to store a networkrestore point in a distributed fashion among motes of the mote network.

The mote network may include and/or involve logic to reset the motenetwork to a previous operational state as a result of completion of atask by the mote network.

The mote network may include and/or involve logic to reset the motenetwork to a previous operational state as a result of damage to themote network.

The mote network may include and/or involve logic to reset the motenetwork to a previous operational state as a result of at least one ofaddition, removal, failure, or reconfiguration of one or more motes ofthe mote network.

Other system/method/apparatus aspects are described in the text (e.g.,detailed description and claims) and drawings forming the presentapplication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, the same reference numbers and acronyms identifyelements or acts with the same or similar functionality for ease ofunderstanding and convenience. To easily identify the discussion of anyparticular element or act, the most significant digit or digits in areference number refer to the figure number in which that element isfirst introduced.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system including a motenetwork.

FIG. 2 is an action flow diagram of an embodiment of a process ofresetting a mote network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

References to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” do not necessarilyrefer to the same embodiment, although they may.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout thedescription and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and thelike are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to anexclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of“including, but not limited to.” Words using the singular or pluralnumber also include the plural or singular number respectively.Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below” and words of similarimport, when used in this application, refer to this application as awhole and not to any particular portions of this application. When theclaims use the word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items,that word covers all of the following interpretations of the word: anyof the items in the list, all of the items in the list and anycombination of the items in the list.

“Logic” refers to signals and/or information that may be applied toinfluence the operation of a device. Software, hardware, and firmwareare examples of logic. Hardware logic may be embodied in circuits. Ingeneral, logic may comprise combinations of software, hardware, and/orfirmware.

System Including a Mote Network

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system including a motenetwork. In order to simplify the description, the network shownincludes three mote sensors 102-104, although a mote network may includemore or fewer (typically more) mote sensors in practice.

Elements of a mote sensor 103 are shown. Other mote sensors may comprisesimilar elements.

Mote sensor 103 comprises logic 108. The logic 108 (which may includememory) may be applied to cause the mote sensor to facilitate actsdescribed herein.

Mote sensor 103 further comprises a communication interface 106. Themote 103 may employ this interface to communicate with other motesand/or devices external to the mote network. Communication may beaccomplished wirelessly via radio frequency, using light, using sound,or by other mechanisms known in the art.

Device 111 is an example of an external device that may interact withthe mote network. The device 111 may be a personal/laptop/desktopcomputer, handheld computing device, wireless device such as digitalassistant or phone, or industrial or test equipment, to name just someof the possibilities. The external device 111 includes logic 113 tofacilitate acts described herein.

Mote sensor 103 further comprises a clock 109 and a sensor 117. Thesensor 117 may sense light/sound. Not all embodiments will include thesefeatures, but they may be present in others.

Network Reset

The mote network may be prone to localized and systemic failures due tonon-robustness of the motes and/or the harshness of the environment intowhich they are deployed. Noise, communication failures, sensor failures,malfunctions, and other conditions may cause a mote network to have anunstable state. The mote network may support application of a resetsignal in order to facilitate reliable and continued operation undersuch circumstances.

It may also be desired to reset a mote network during the course of itsnormal operation, either periodically or triggered by some event orcondition. For example, a mote network used to capture data forscientific experiments might be reset at the start of each experiment.

The mote network may receive a signal to reset, and apply the signal toreset to place the mote network into a reset condition. The reset signalmay be generated externally from the network (e.g. by an external device111). The reset signal may be generated internally by the network itself(e.g. by one or more motes of the network). For example, motes 102-104may communicate sensor data by passing the data from nearest neighbor tonearest neighbor. Mote 102 passes its sensor data to mote 103, mote 103passes data for itself and mote 102 to mote 104, and mote 104communicates sensor data for itself and motes 102 and 103 to an externaldevice such as device 111. If a mote 103 stops working, data for itselfand other motes 102 that it passes on may be lost. A reset condition maybe initiated if either of still-working motes 102-104 or the externaldevice 111 recognize that too much data is being lost. After a reset,each still-working mote may pass data to a currently working nearestmote, in this case, mote 102 would pass its data to mote 104.

Receiving a signal to reset and applying the signal to reset to placethe mote network into a reset condition (henceforth, ‘reset signalapplication’) may include and/or involve returning one or more motesindividually to or near to an identified saved state. This may includeand/or involve returning one or more motes individually to or near to astate saved at a particular time, and/or returning the mote network toor near to an identified saved state, and/or returning the mote network(vs. particular motes) to or near to a state saved at a particular time.For example, motes 102-104 may contain sensors 117 with parameter valuesthat vary with ambient conditions. After a reset, all sensors 117 mayinitially operate using their initial parameter settings.

In some implementations, reset signal application may also oralternatively include and/or involve signaling the mote network withstate information stored external to the mote network.

Reset signal application may in some cases involve signaling the motenetwork to apply state information stored by the one or more motes ofthe mote network. Thus, state information applied to effect the resetcondition may come from within the network or from outside the network.

Reset signal application may involve signaling with light. For example,motes may be applied to a volume such as a crawl space or tunnel. Motes102-104 distributed within the volume may reset each time a light pulseis sensed. Reset signal application may also or alternatively includeand/or involve signaling with sound. For example, the at least oneapplication described above may alternatively use sound to trigger resetand measure.

Reset signal application may also or alternatively include and/orinvolve different sets of motes sequentially resetting to a previousmote operational state. In other words, a reset signal may propagatethrough the network. In other situations, all motes of the network mayreset at approximately the same time, due to reset synchronization or,for example, because the signal to reset is provided from an externaldevice to all motes at approximately a same time.

Returning to the known operational state (henceforth, ‘reset’), mayinclude and/or involve returning at least one mote of the mote networkto a manufactured default state, and/or performing a reset and restartof at least one mote of the mote network (e.g. asserting a reset signalto a processor of a mote sensor). For example, a hung personal computermay be rebooted with the result that it performs self-test functionsthen restarts, so that either a problem is detected or the computer isresponsive and in a known initial state. Similarly, a mote restart mayinclude a self-test followed by restart to a known condition in terms ofcommunicating with its neighbors, sensing, etc.

Reset may also involve erasing stored data of at least one mote of themote network (e.g. purging memory contents of a mote sensor). Reset mayinclude and/or involve resetting at least one of mote clock, motesensor, mote knowledge of neighbors, or mote knowledge of environmentalfactors, among other things.

Due to the possibly “destructive” nature of reset and the possibility ofdata loss, one or more motes of the network may participate inauthentication and/or authorization of a reset. In some situations, thismay involve at least one mote of the mote network authenticating asource of the reset signal, for example by extracting and verifyingauthentication and/or authorization information such as keys, passwords,privileges, and so on from the reset signal. In some situations, atleast one mote of the mote network may communicate stored informationbefore returning to a previous mote operational state, thus preservingstored information before it is destroyed by the reset. For example, inany mote network where the reset signal might occur improperly oraccidentally (say if a person mistakenly presses a button on the devicegenerating the signal, or because of ambient noise), an authenticationand or authorization protocol may be used before or at the time of resetto assure reset is deliberate. For example, if motes 102-104 aremeasuring light, temperature, and moisture in a forest, and/or a resetsound is sensed, mote 103 may use its communication interface 106 toobtain authentication information and/or a reset password prior to themotes 102-104 sending stored sensor data to the external device 111before resetting.

It may be advantageous, in certain implementations, for the reset signalto result in at least one mote “removing” itself from the mote network.The removed mote may cease to respond to communications and/or may ceaseto procure and/or provide readings. In some situations, at least onemote may be assigned a status such that signals from the at least onemote are ignored and/or treated as unsuitable. Such a status may beassigned by the mote itself, by the mote network (e.g. one or more othermotes of the network may assign the status to a mote), and/or by adevice external to the network. For example, the reset process may bedesigned to include a self-test by each mote. If mote 103 detects as aresult of the self-test that a sensor is not working properly, it maycease sensor measurements and may not respond to communications fromother motes.

One manner of implementing reset may involve retaining one or more firsttypes of state information on a mote-by-mote basis, and removing one ormore second types of state information on a mote-by-mote basis. In otherwords, reset may involve setting subsets of motes within the network todifferent operational states, to effect an overall network resetcondition. For example, in a mote network, some motes 102 may sensetemperature, some motes 103, 104 may sense light, etc. A reset might bedesigned to capture then reinitiate data logging for one type of sensor.Thus a “temperature reset” might only affect mote 102.

In other situations, reset may involve causing all functional motes ofthe mote network to return to a same state, including but not limited tocausing one or more motes to enter into an energy saving state. In themotes 102-104 in a forest example, all sensor readings from all motesmay be provided in response to the reset signal. Reset might alsoinclude a mote 102 identifying if it is in a low power state, and, ifso, limiting communications with other motes by say, sending messagesonly 1/10 as often (Communication is often more energy intensive thaneither sensing or processing.).

When performing a reset, the mote network may apply state informationstored by the one or more motes of the mote network. In other words, thereset state information may come from within and may involve one or moremotes obtaining reset state information from one or more other motes. Inother situations, each mote will apply its owned stored reset stateinformation. In still other situations, the reset state information maycome from a source external to the network.

To provide a form of feedback, one or more motes of the network maysignal the success or failure of applying the signal to reset. This mayprovide useful information about which motes of the network may berelied upon to have achieved the reset condition.

Reset Synchronization

Prior to or as an alternative to providing a signal to reset, the motenetwork may be signaled with information about a common time at which toperform a reset. Motes of the network may then synchronously perform areset at the indicated common time. To help ensure that the motes aresynchronized to reset at a common time, the mote network may be providedwith a synchronization signal prior to a reset signal. FIG. 2 describesan embodiment of this process.

The common time signal and/or the synchronization signal may be providedby the mote network itself (e.g. one or more motes of the network mayprovide the signal), or may be provided by a source external to the motenetwork.

Restore Points

The mote network may create a network restore point as a result ofreceiving the signal to reset. The network restore point may preservestate information of the network prior to applying the reset. Preservingstate in this fashion may enable the network to later be restored to thestate in existence prior to the reset. For example, each mote 102-104may preserve as part of a restore point knowledge of its current nearestneighbors.

One or more motes of the mote network may provide distributed storagefor information of the network restore point. In other words, therestore point information may be distributed throughout the network. Inother embodiments the network restore point information may be storedexternal to the mote network.

Reset Conditions

In some situations, the mote network may be signaled to reset when datacollected from the mote network indicates the presence of one or moreenvironmental factors associated with a reset condition. For example,the mote network may be signaled to reset as a result of completion of atask by the mote network, and/or as a result of damage to the motenetwork, and/or as a result of at least one of addition, removal,failure, or reconfiguration of one or more motes of the mote network.For example, motes 102-104 may be set up to sense and communicate datafor a given period of time, say 24 hours, and may reset on taskcompletion. As a second example, a mote network 102-104 in a room mayexperience water damage as a result of a false fire alarm, damaging mote103, and triggering a network reset to reconfigure communications andsensing responsibilities. As a third example, motes may be blown into apipe to join the current motes 102-104 therein; all motes in theexpanded mote network may then reset to configure communications andsensing responsibilities.

Resetting a Mote Network

FIG. 2 is an action flow diagram of an embodiment of a process ofresetting a mote network.

At 202 a synchronization signal is communicated by a controller to amote network. Each mote 1, 2, and 3 of the network receives the synchsignal and sets its clock accordingly. The three motes (there may ofcourse be a different number in practice) may then operate withapproximately synchronized clocks.

At 204 the controller sends a signal to the motes indicating that resetshould occur at a time T4. The motes are operating with approximatelysynchronized clocks, so that at time T4 the three motes each perform aself-reset at approximately the same time. The combined effect of theself-resets is a systemic reset of the mote network.

Prior to performing the self-reset, mote 1 at 206 communicates storeddata to the controller. The stored data is thus preserved from anymemory purge that accompanies the self-reset.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto implement devices and/or processes and/or systems in the fashion(s)set forth herein, and thereafter use engineering and/or businesspractices to integrate such implemented devices and/or processes and/orsystems into more comprehensive devices and/or processes and/or systems.That is, at least a portion of the devices and/or processes and/orsystems described herein can be integrated into comprehensive devicesand/or processes and/or systems via a reasonable amount ofexperimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize thatexamples of such comprehensive devices and/or processes and/or systemsmight include—as appropriate to context and application—all or part ofdevices and/or processes and/or systems of (a) an air conveyance (e.g.,an airplane, rocket, hovercraft, helicopter, etc.), (b) a groundconveyance (e.g., a car, truck, locomotive, tank, armored personnelcarrier, etc.), (c) a building (e.g., a home, warehouse, office, etc.),(d) an appliance (e.g., a refrigerator, a washing machine, a dryer,etc.), (e) a communications system (e.g., a networked system, atelephone system, a Voice over IP system, etc.), (f) a business entity(e.g., an Internet Service Provider (ISP) entity such as Comcast Cable,Quest, Southwestern Bell, etc.); or (g) a wired/wireless services entitysuch as Sprint, Cingular, Nextel, etc.), etc.

While particular aspects of the present subject matter described hereinhave been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the subject matter described hereinand its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are toencompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as arewithin the true spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein.Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is defined by theappended claims. It will be understood by those within the art that, ingeneral, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g.,bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms(e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but notlimited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having atleast,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but isnot limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those withinthe art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation isintended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and inthe absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example,as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may containusage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” tointroduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should notbe construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by theindefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containingsuch introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, evenif a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitlyrecited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitationshould typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number(e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without othermodifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or morerecitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in generalsuch a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where aconvention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, ingeneral such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill inthe art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at leastone of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that haveA alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be furtherunderstood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive wordand/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in thedescription, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplatethe possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, orboth terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood toinclude the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

1. A method comprising: a mote network receiving a signal to reset andapplying the signal to reset to place the mote network into a resetcondition.
 2. (canceled)
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving asignal to reset and applying the signal to reset to place the motenetwork into a reset condition further comprises: returning one or moremotes individually to or near to a state saved at a particular time. 4.(canceled)
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a signal to resetand applying the signal to reset to place the mote network into a resetcondition further comprises: returning the mote network to or near to astate saved at a particular time.
 6. (canceled)
 7. (canceled) 8.(canceled)
 9. (canceled)
 10. (canceled)
 11. (canceled)
 12. (canceled)13. (canceled)
 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising: one ormore motes of the mote network creating a network restore point as aresult of receiving the signal.
 15. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising: the one or more motes of the mote network providingdistributed storage for information of the network restore point. 16.(canceled)
 17. The method of claim 1, further comprising: signaling themote network with the result that the network is reset to a previousoperational state as a result of completion of a task by the motenetwork.
 18. (canceled)
 19. (canceled)
 20. The method of claim 1,wherein receiving a signal to reset and applying the signal to reset toplace the mote network into a reset condition further comprises:signaling with light.
 21. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving asignal to reset and applying the signal to reset to place the motenetwork into a reset condition further comprises: signaling with sound.22. (canceled)
 23. (canceled)
 24. (canceled)
 25. (canceled)
 26. Themethod of claim 1, wherein receiving a signal to reset and applying thesignal to reset to place the mote network into a reset condition furthercomprises: causing one or more motes to enter into an energy savingstate.
 27. (canceled)
 28. (canceled)
 29. (canceled)
 30. The method ofclaim 1, wherein receiving a signal to reset and applying the signal toreset to place the mote network into a reset condition furthercomprises: propagating a reset signal through the mote network.
 31. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: signaling the mote network withinformation about a common time at which to perform a reset. 32.(canceled)
 33. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a signal toreset and applying the signal to reset to place the mote network into areset condition further comprises: signaling the mote network when datacollected from the mote network indicates the presence of one or moreenvironmental factors associated with a reset condition.
 34. (canceled)35. A system utilizing at least one mote, said mote comprising: logic toreceive a signal to reset and to apply the signal to reset to place themote into a reset condition.
 36. The mote of claim 35, wherein the logicto receive a signal to reset and to apply the signal to reset to placethe mote into a reset condition further comprises: logic to return themote to or near to an identified saved state.
 37. (canceled) 38.(canceled)
 39. (canceled)
 40. (canceled)
 41. The mote of claim 35,wherein the logic to receive a signal to reset and to apply the signalto reset to place the mote into a reset condition further comprises:logic to apply state information stored by the one or more other motesof the mote network.
 42. (canceled)
 43. (canceled)
 44. (canceled) 45.(canceled)
 46. (canceled)
 47. (canceled)
 48. (canceled)
 49. (canceled)50. (canceled)
 51. (canceled)
 52. (canceled)
 53. The mote of claim 35further comprising: logic to communicate stored information beforereturning to a previous mote operational state as a result of receivingthe signal to reset.
 54. (canceled)
 55. The mote of claim 35, furthercomprising: logic to receive and apply information about a time at whichto perform a reset.
 56. The mote of claim 35, further comprising: logicto receive and apply a synchronization signal prior to receiving andapplying the signal to reset.
 57. The mote of claim 35, furthercomprising: logic to signal success or failure of applying the signal toreset.
 58. A mote network comprising: logic to receive a signal to resetand to apply the signal to reset to place the mote network into a resetcondition.
 59. The mote network of claim 58, further comprising: logicto store a network restore point in a distributed fashion among motes ofthe mote network.
 60. The mote network of claim 58, further comprising:logic to reset the mote network to a previous operational state as aresult of completion of a task by the mote network.
 61. The mote networkof claim 58, further comprising: logic to reset the mote network to aprevious operational state as a result of damage to the mote network.62. (canceled)
 63. The mote network of claim 58, wherein the logic toreceive a signal to reset and to apply the signal to reset to place themote network into a reset condition further comprises: logic to causeone or more motes of the mote network to remove itself from the motenetwork.
 64. The mote network of claim 58, wherein the logic to receivea signal to reset and to apply the signal to reset to place the motenetwork into a reset condition further comprises: logic to assign atleast one mote a status such that signals from the at least one mote areignored and/or treated as unsuitable.
 65. (canceled)
 66. (canceled) 67.(canceled)
 68. (canceled)
 69. (canceled)